Page 2 of Puck King
Everleigh put her hand on the car so I couldn’t close the door. “Move your hand, unless you want it decapitated.”
She rolled her eyes and smiled. “Decapitation doesn’t work.”
“You know what I mean,” I groaned. “I’m not giving Brittany ANY money. That’s all she wants, is to be paid off. She knows that we will throw money at anything that taints the King name.”
Everleigh’s lips pursed. She knew what I was talking about. Our father, William King, was known for a lot of things: for being a billionaire, the owner of the New York Thunder hockey team, and a serial cheater. “I’m nothing like Dad,” I whispered.
A shimmer appeared in Everleigh’s eyes. “I know.” She inhaled before any tears could fall. Growing up as Kings we were taught that showing emotion was a sign of weakness, and my sister was an expert at being icy-cold. Behind her back, the staff called her the Ice Queen. I heard them, but didn’t feel the need to stick up for her. She was tough, but I knew that she was also soft and kind, something not many others did – and she liked it that way. “You get to practice.” She swiped at her eye with the back of her hand and shut the door.
“I have physio first.” The SUV roared to life. “My shoulder is almost back to one hundred percent.”
“That’s good to hear. Maybe now you can score some fucking goals.” She grinned and then shut the door. The tension from earlier had dissipated. Everleigh had inherited all the business smarts, and I had gotten the athletic genes, but her trucker mouth? We didn’t know where that came from.
I rolled down the window. “Classy, as always.”
She smiled and gave me the finger. As she walked in front of the car, I honked the horn. I couldn’t hold in my laugh as she almost jumped right out of her shoes. “Asshole,” she mouthed.
“Love you, Sis,” I shouted, then rolled up the window and pointed my car toward the city.
I listened to the talk radio weather report, and when the sports highlights came on, I turned up the volume.
The two sportscasters rambled on about some Northern Professional League games before getting to the National League discussion.
“Can you believe the drama surrounding the Thunder?” Sportscaster One said in an overly dramatic tone. “A story like that has got to rock the team. Especially when it involves the captain, Colton King.”
My ears burned. This wasn’t a discussion about hockey, this was a discussion about my personal life. They were two separate things. I was a professional, a goddamn expert at keeping my focus on the things that mattered most to me – hockey. The areas of my life were separated so firmly, there may as well have been concrete walls between them.
Mr. Jokey Sportscaster continued, “For those of you who didn’t see the tabloids this morning, Colton King, one of hockey’s biggest and best stars, cheated on his girlfriend and got caught. We don’t know the identity of the… what would you call the other woman? It looks like she’s being paid to stay quiet.”
“Mistress?” the other announcer suggested.
“Well, whatever she is, she’s just gotten herself the golden ticket from the royal family of hockey.”
They segued in the song “Money”, by Pink Floyd.
As the sound of coins and a cash register rang through the speakers, I felt like I had taken an elbow to the gut. I pulled to the side of the road, gripped the steering wheel, and tried not to rip it right out of the car. There were two people that knew the truth about what had happened, me and Brittany. One of us was lying, and it wasn’t me. I didn’t have time to cheat. When I wasn’t playing hockey, I was thinking about hockey.
My phone rang and when I saw that it was my father, I quickly declined the call. He listened to the sports report every day too. I had to put a stop to this gossip before it ruined everything.
I dialed and she picked up on the second ring.
“What? Do you miss me already?”
“Everleigh, I need your help. None of it is true. You have to believe me.” I surprised myself with the anger in my voice. It felt like my throat was closing in on itself.
I could hear her take a deep breath. “I believe you, Colton. And, I will help you. I’m going to ruin her fucking life.”
With Everleigh on the job, I knew it would get taken care of, and a part of me felt sorry for Brittany. But only for a split second. After all, she was the girl trying to ruin me. We’d only dated for two months and now she was going after what she’d always wanted from me – money. She deserved everything Everleigh was going to dish out, and more.
Two
Alison
There were alreadytwo patients waiting when I got to our clinic. I could hear Brian Parson, my business partner and husband, speaking from behind one of the treatment doors.
“Good Morning, Alison.” Our receptionist, Hollie, smiled from behind the computer screen. She looked at her watch. “You’re early today.”
“Morning, Hollie. I need to catch up on some paperwork, and maybe even get some breakfast with my husband.” I caught her eyes as they glanced down to my snow-covered boots. “Shit,” I muttered. I reversed out the door to bang my boots on the sisal mat outside the door. “I walked today.”
